Beyond Faction
by SorryZurie
Summary: It is the most difficult and gut wrenching decision I've ever had to make. I may not be Divergent, but after today I am no longer Erudite either. Emily's entire world is no longer what it seems once she comes face to face with a few notorious Divergents.
1. Chapter 1

_Divergent, a word that was once a secret. A word so poisonous to whomever spoke it that to even think of it would be a danger. This word, divergent, is no longer hidden; it is no longer an invisible threat. It is a nightmare that has become our reality._

The words were blown up onto the wall in bold lines of red last week. And they've done nothing but cause incessant paranoia. Erudite, the faction of knowledge, a place I once could proudly call my home has become such a foreign land. Herds of Dauntless guards march through our headquarters, wielding guns and running down whoever stands in their way. "Do you really believe what they're saying about Divergents?" Magdalene asks in a hushed tone.

"We aren't supposed to say that word." Henry warns her.

I turn to face them both. "Divergent, Divergent, Divergent. It's written on the walls for God's sake. I think it's safe to say that the rule book can be completely tossed out the window." I point to the walls behind me and roll my eyes at the both of them. They've been my friends since before I can remember. Both so incredibly smart but insanely naive as well.

Staring behind me Henry is scratching his head. "Do you think that classes are even still in session since the Dauntless troops have invaded?" We each step back allowing another clump of guards to jog pass.

I shake my head. "No, I overheard my father speaking, they're all canceled until further notice." I check the time on my watch, lately I've been doing it more and more. It's as if I'm waiting for something tremendous to happen, but I'm unsure of what. "Look I've got to go, I'll catch up with you two later."

"Where are you going? You're always headed somewhere. Are you—_Divergent_?" Magdalene asks mockingly.

"Are you serious? Just because we can say it doesn't mean we should! And it definitely doesn't mean we can make jokes like that." Henry scolds her and she immediately covers her mouth; glancing around to make sure no one overheard her.

Mouthing the word sorry she shrugs her shoulders. I wave it away and grab my bag off the ground. "See you later." To be honest I don't know where I'm going. Ever since the invasion I've sort of just wandered around the Erudite compound. Just barely reaching the outskirts, near the train tracks, I see a blur of black dart across from the corner of my eye. "Whose there?" I yell out tentatively. Erudite wear blue and would have no reason to run, nor would they have a reason to be so far away from the headquarters. The Dauntless guards would simply address me head on, to check if I'm Divergent. Another blur of black cloth appears and disappears before my eyes as I run down a list of possibilities. "I _said _who is it!" With more force I stand my ground knowing exactly who they are. Divergents.

At the top of my class, reading for fun is a given, and with my dad being head of Erudite research and development; I've managed to get a hold of a few Divergent essays. From the way they are depicted, I wouldn't want to be caught alone with them. And so I am now running, running as fast as I can back toward the compound. "We've got a runner!" Someone shouts from behind me, how far behind me I cannot tell. And I dare not look back.

My breath is short and my pace is starting to fault. I am no where near safety, I will be captured. It is inevitable. "Stop!" Another voice shouts out, a girl. She sounds so fragile and petite, like my little sister. I shake the thought out of my head and continue running towards my salvation. The most logical path would be to continue running straight ahead, but I need a moment to catch my breath. I know these streets like the back of my hands. I could surly lose them if even for just a few minutes. I look behind me, a group of six are barreling down on my heels. I make the decision and slip into a narrow alley way.

"Tris, go!" So the girl's name is Tris? I ignore my intrigue and continue. The alleyway that I am currently sprinting through will spit me out onto another street. A street that just so happens to have the abandoned building I would play in as a child. I know exactly where I'm going now. I dart through the front doors and toward the back set of stairs that will lead me to the very top floor. But instead of going all the way up I crawl into a space that once was my hide out. I've grown a little too big for it, I'm uncomfortably squished inside, but it will have to do for now. "Are you sure she came into _this _building?" I can hear his husky voice question from down below.

"I could have sworn she did. Tobias this is bad." _Tobias and Tris? They're Divergent? My father's research was right, anyone really can be Divergent._ "Erudite has completely morphed their minds. Her father is working with Jeanine, if we can get to her and if she can help us get to him—"

"I know, I know. Look she's not here, maybe she slipped into another building. Let's go check." I listen to Tobias suggest an alternate plan of action and then I listen to the door close behind them. Only a fool would leave immediately after, so I wait for ten minutes before descending. The sun has set entirely and the building is darker than ever. I tip toe through the darkness, hoping that I don't knock into something. I reach out at what I believe would be the front door but, only I am sadly mistaken. "Gotcha!" Tobias' hands wrap around my wrists firmly.

I scream so much that I fear my vocal chords will break. Two sets of hands and arms wrap around my torso as I writhe around trying to break free. "Someone cover her mouth!" Tris yells fighting to be heard over my screams and then a third set of hands shove something into my mouth, muting my screams of terror. "Stop fighting us or we'll have to knock you out." She threatens me and my eyes grow even wider though I cannot see their faces.

Against every logical fiber in my body I continue to struggle against their strong grips. "I warned you." She forces out just before everything slowly fades away. I blink away the darkness and before me are two people who I presume to be Tris and Tobias. "Emily," she begins and I am proven correct, it is in fact Tris. "We don't want to hurt you."

I stare down at my tied wrists and feel the pang of pain at the back of my head. "If that's the case then you've already failed." I retort. Eying both her and Tobias, I review all of the possible outcomes. The first and most likely is that I'll become their prisoner; a way to negotiate with my father. I cringe at the thought.

She folds her arms across her chest. I was entirely wrong about her being fragile and petite, she is in fact muscular, yet she still has a feminine physique. Tobias on the other hand is all muscle, they bulge even though he is not flexing them; they both originated from the Dauntless faction no doubt. "Well that was a technicality, to ensure that you wouldn't run back screaming." She smiles a sweet and warm smile.

"The truth is, we just want to talk." Tobias cuts in.

"About what?" I prod even though I already know the gist of what the conversation will be.

"You must think we're some kind of ruthless freaks just out to—I don't know—murder you." Another voice interjects coming from somewhere outside of my line of sight. I wait for a face to go with the voice. And then he emerges. Tall, lean and stunning he smirks down at me. It takes a lot of me to refrain from gasping at how handsome he is. Then I remember that he is the enemy. "But we aren't and we don't, well at least not without reason." He chuckles.

I switch my gaze between the three of them. "Where did you come from, you—you knew that I would be there. You've been following me." My voice sounds unfamiliar, it is shaky and scratchy from all of the screaming I previously did.

"That would be a negative." Handsome replies. "We were just lucky that you came so far away from headquarters."

"We've been slowly inching our way inland." Tobias finishes. "Ignore Andrew's untrustworthy tone, that's just how he is. We really do mean no harm."

For some reason my breathing is a little more steady, as if any of what their saying is reassuring to me. I know it is all just lies, they'll say and do anything to get the answers they need. And then when they have them, they will dispose of me and move on. "I'll cooperate. I just need a glass of water. My throat—" I trail off faking my discomfort a little more than necessary.

"Be back in a flash." Andrew winks at me and then he's gone. All that is left is Tobias and Tris standing within the glow of a few burning candles. I have absolutely no idea where we are and it terrifies me beyond belief.

Tris sits down on a small wooden stool and smiles sweetly at me once more. "So Emily how old are you? I'm only sixteen, and I'm already considered an enemy to all." She laughs lightly, the joke fails the room. "Tobias is eighteen and Andrew is—"

"Twenty, here you go. One glass of, not even close to being cold, water." He hands me the glass and then leans against the wall, his eyes never leaving mine.

I hold the glass carefully in my bound hands and slowly move it to my mouth. Room temperature water is never good but I drink it anyway. "Thank you. And I'm seventeen."

"What were you doing all the way out in the boondocks? Scoping out the surroundings for Mommy and Daddy?" Andrew puckers his lips and furrows his brow as if he's talking to a little child.

"No," I shoot back at him a little more agitated than I would have liked to sound. "I needed a break from all of the crazy back at the compound. Mommy and Daddy don't even know I'm here." Big mistake telling them that, but I do it anyway. I must make myself seem more brave and dangerous than I am. "Now what do you want to know?" I get on with it, there's no point in beating around the bush with Divergents. They'll just run right through it.

"Is it true that your father works closely with Jeanine?" Tobias takes over now.

"If it is then I wouldn't know." It is the truth, I wouldn't know. My father is very secretive when it comes to his job at the Erudite headquarters.

Tris rests her elbows on her knees and stares more intently at me. "Well isn't your father a researcher?"

I roll my eyes at her, there is something about the way she looks and speaks to me that gets under my skin. "Yes, he's one of the top researches but that doesn't mean he's working with Jeanine. It's my turn now." I suck in a deep breath.

Andrew laughs a little. "Your turn?" He inclines his head a little.

I ignore him for the most part and look back at Tobias and Tris. "If you want me to answer your questions you're going to have to answer a few of mine as well."

"Fine," Tobias replies.

I clear my throat. "Why is Jeanine so important to you?" I watch as Tris and Tobias share a look and then look behind themselves at Andrew who shakes his head no. "If you want me to answer _any _more of your questions you're going to have to answer that one. Or it's no deal and you might as well kill me now." I counter their threat and my heart has never beat this fast and heavy before in my entire life.

"We're not going to kill you Emily." Tris reassures me. She stands and then paces the room. "Why do you think there are all of those Dauntless guards in your faction?"

It's a pretty stupid question to ask when we both already know the answer, but I answer her anyway, "because they're looking for people like you, people who suffer from Divergence."

Andrew pushes off from the wall and strides over to me then sits down next to me. Leaning in he shakes his head and smiles a chilling smile. "We aren't suffering from anything, Sweetheart. It's you all in the factions that are suffering, and it's just so hilariously ironic that you of all people, the Erudite. The ones who claim to be oh so intelligent, are the ones who cannot even see when they are being misinformed."

I stare at them all puzzled. "What?" I lean away from Andrew who still hasn't removed the smile on his face.

Tobias rubs the back of his head. "What Andrew means is that Jeanine, the one you all have put your trust into has lied to you from day one. She's behind all of the Dauntless troops."

"She's _controlling _them." Tris adds.

_Controlling_? I assess what that could possibly mean. Does she have some kind of leverage she's holding over the Dauntless faction? Has she struck a deal with the Dauntless leaders to further sift out the Divergents? Or does Tris literally mean what she has said, is Jeanine _literally _controlling the Dauntless troops? "Controlling?" I voice my thought. "As in she's blackmailing Dauntless leaders and forcing them to force members of the faction to be soldiers?"

Andrew stands up once more. "Not even close." He grabs my glass of water and finishes it's contents without asking then gives the glass back to me. I toss it to my side and it falls into grass. Grass, something I hadn't noticed before hand. That could only mean one thing, we're inside of the old greenhouse for medical researching. At least now I know where I'll be killed. "She's created a new simulation that controls the Dauntless. Haven't you noticed anything particularly funny about the Dauntless soldiers? I mean like freaky robotic weird."

I slowly shake my head no. "I mean sure they all look a bit dimwitted. But I thought that was just normal for members of the Dauntless faction." I listen to Tobias and Tris laugh.

"I'm going to ignore your insult for now." He is still laughing. "But Andrew is one hundred percent correct. The only reason it didn't work on us is because we're all Divergent."

"But she's found a way to control even us," Tris begins while holding on to Tobias' arm. "She tested it out on Tobias, and it really worked. But for some reason he was able to snap out of it. And we thought we'd managed to break everyone else out of the trance."

"But clearly, they didn't." Andrew chimes in. "Jeanine just keeps coming back, like crabgrass. Once the first plant pops up, it's nearly impossible to get rid of." He's smirking at me again. His eyes a shimmering hazel in the candle light. _Why is he so fixated on me? He probably wants to be the one to kill me. _

I look away from him back to Tobias and Tris. "Well if you have no way to stop her then why are you here, why did you kidnap me? If all hope is lost, it seems entirely illogical to have broken into the Erudite faction. It's like you're _asking _to be killed."

"Not at all," Tris blurts out. "It's like Andrew said _nearly _impossible. We just need to find her weakness and exploit it. That's where—"

"I come in," I finish her sentence. "Let me just wrap this up for you all." It is finally all making sense. "You want me to be a mole, to retrieve information from my father—without being caught might I add—and then relay _that _information back to you three."

"Exactly," Tobias beams hopefully.

It is now me who laughs. "Unbelievable, this is just—wow. If only I had just gone home." I mumble to myself, I think I've finally lost it.

"Hey," Andrew shouts, snapping me back to the present. "None of this is a laughing matter. Jeanine doesn't just want to get rid of Divergents, she wants to over throw the government. She's already murdered several council members and the ones she hasn't killed yet are all underground, hiding. They're waiting for someone to save them. Are you going to help save them, or are you going to help kill them?" I stare up at him, this is the most serious he's been the entire time and it scares me the most. As I stare at them all I ponder what is the most logical choice. If I disagree to help them then death will surly be my fate. But if I agree to help them and what they've told me is all a lie, I become the enemy. Then there is the last route, what if everything they've told me is true and I don't help them? I'll become just like the mindless soldiers, helping Jeanine destroy the very foundation of who we all are.

"I'll help." I whisper. It is the most difficult and gut wrenching decision I've ever had to make. I may not be Divergent, but after today I am no longer Erudite either.


	2. Chapter 2

Now that I've agreed to help them, the wrist restraints have been removed and I've been give a clump of ice wrapped in cloth to place onto the back of my head. I've learned that the other three people that were chasing me all came from the Amity faction. "Are we going too fast?" Tris questions and it brings me out of my trance.

"To be honest I wasn't really listening." I mumble.

"Geez, Dimple could you try paying attention? Even for just a moment?" Andrew scolds me and my free hand covers my right cheek. He has paid far too much attention to me if he's noticing my bodily imperfections. I can feel my shoulders slowly hunching forward because of my insecurities.

I stand from my seat and pace the room. "Well, excuse me for having all of this information forcefully crammed down my throat. Just three hours ago, I was still a part of a faction I believed to be pure. A faction based solely on the curiosity of knowledge." I try to ignore the pulsating pain on my head and continue to pace. "I mean sure, if what you're saying is true then it's obviously horrific and should be stopped, but for it all to fall down to me then you can't possibly expect me to dive in one hundred percent ready. I—I just don't—" The room is spinning and I feel myself losing balance. "Whoa," I mutter just before I begin to fall backwards.

Two arms catch me before I am able to hit the ground. "Gotcha," Andrew whispers far too close to my face. A chill runs up my spine at the touch of unfamiliar hands. "Relax, we know it's a lot to process."

Both Tobias and Andrew help me back to my seat. "But if you want to help then you must be completely ready. We can't afford to have you back out middle ways through." Tobias explains.

"Or even worse, if you were to get caught we can't risk having you give up our plan." Tris interjects. I stare at the three of them and sigh heavily. What Jeanine is doing was never a part of the Erudite way. Mass murders and deceit to the faction aren't a part of her job description. She just can't get away with it.

Once more, I sigh. "Okay, you can trust me entirely. Consider me an honorary Divergent." I joke sheepishly and notice the hinting of a smile on both Tris' and Andrew's face. "Well, now that you have my undivided attention, you can go through the first step again."

Tobias checks the watch on his left wrist. "People are probably starting to wonder about where you are so I'll make this quick. The first thing you need to do is convince your father to bring you with him to work."

I'm laughing even though I know he is being serious. "There is a fat chance that will happen. I've already told you, my father keeps his work top secret."

Andrew runs his fingers through his hair, the expression his face holds is a mixture of frustration and hope. It is an expression that sends a different kind of chill up my spine. "Make him take you, tell him you're really thinking about following in his footsteps and the decision would be a lot easier if you could just see what it's like for a day. You're an Erudite, you're supposedly smart, you'll think of something." He jokes and winks at me. I turn away in hopes that I don't reveal my blush.

Tris stands up from her stool and retrieves a few pieces of paper. "There's a Divergent who was from the Erudite faction. He worked in the headquarters with a few higher ups. When he got wind of what Jeanine was starting to do, he bolted." She hands me the papers, they read _Insurgence. _"He managed to grab these documents before he left. They don't say much, they just sort of suggest at what is to come."

I skim over the papers and she is absolutely correct; they give me little to no information at all. "This is what we need you to dig around for. Find and bring back anything you can that has to do with Insurgence." Tobias tells me as an order, in a way I feel as if I've become just another Dauntless soldier. Only I'm fighting for what's right.

_Sure, I'll be able to steal confidential files from Jeanine no problem. _I fold the papers and slip them into the inside pocket of my jacket. "Where is this Erudite Divergent now?"

Andrew steps forward. "Back at _our _headquarters." He smirks.

I raise an eyebrow back at him. "And where exactly is that, how are you staying under Jeanine's and the Dauntless troops' radar?" They all share a look before Andrew faces me once more.

"That's the coolest part, ever wonder where the train goes?" His eyes are so bright with excitement that I can't help but allow the corners of my mouth to turn upward a bit.

I shake my head no, the thought really never crossed my mind. I suppose I always assumed that once they passed the Amity faction, the train simply would move in reverse. "No, not really. Where do they go?"

"Past Amity, beyond faction lines." Andrew whispers out I believe in an attempt to spook me. "And then over course it just loops back around and returns to the factions." No matter how hard I try to be unimpressed, I know that my face gives it away. My eyes are wide and my mouth is slightly ajar.

I lean back against the wall in disbelief. "No one is that stupid to even _think _of venturing out past faction boundary."

"Well, when you're running for your life you've got to do the unthinkable. Which is what makes it so amazingly obvious." Andrew answers quickly.

Tobias and Tris laugh lightly at his excitement. "Plus, it comes in handy when the person who is hunting you down is the most afraid out of them all." Tobias chimes in happily.

_Jeanine, afraid? _The two words don't feel comfortable together. "She thinks we're hiding out amongst the factionless, which some of are, to keep an eye on things. But the majority of us are beyond boundary lines. And the rest have yet to realize what they are."

It is all so fascinating, I wish I could stay here all night and discuss it with them, but I know I cannot. "I should probably get back," I finally speak up and declare. "How will I keep in contact with you?"

We all stand and head for the outside, I notice that Andrew lags behind us but I dare not turn around. I cannot have him thinking he peeks my interest, even though he does. "We'll give you three days to win over your father and on the fourth day you'll return to us here. So that you don't raise a lot of suspicion." Tobias informs me. "Then depending on your status report, you'll either continue to win over your father or start creating an alias for Andrew."

"An alias?" I blurt out a little more horrified than confused. I hope he didn't notice. "An alias for what?" I can hear him chuckle so I suck in a deep breath and quickly glance behind me. "What's so funny?"

He raises his hands as if to protect himself. "I—just never thought I'd be returning." He continues to chuckle. Screw all of the formalities and trying to be discrete with how I feel. My eyes grow wide and my mouth is completely open as I stare at him. _Return!_

"Return? You mean you were once—"

"Erudite, yeah I hate to say it's true but I was." I've completely shut put Tobias and Tris and I've stopped dead in my tracks, forcing Andrew to do the same. "But you're only twenty, I would have remembered you at the Choosing Ceremony for your class."

He smiles brightly at me. "Why exactly would you have remembered me?" From the tone of his voice I know exactly what he really means.

I ignored his implication. "You would have been in the same class as my older sister." Good and correct answer. I mentally pat myself on the back for avoiding that awkward conversation. "Aside from you returning to Erudite, why and how am I supposed to create an alias for you? I'm not a part of the Erudite faction member historical archives." I explain to them all and continue walking.

"But your sister is," Tris answers out to me from further ahead. _How does _she _know that?_

"How exactly do you know this? I thought you said you guys weren't spying on me."

Whistling Tobias signals for the other three Divergents that I met to come out of hiding, or overseeing or whatever it is they were doing on the rooftops. I watch as they scale down the sides of the buildings. The Dauntless are really dauntless. "Tris' brother Caleb wouldn't shut up talking about her." The name rings a familiar bell in my mind. Caleb must be the number one initiate, the one who was allowed to choose the highest ranking initiate job. He was given the choice to either work with my as my father's personal assistant or as my sister's co-historian partner. My sister got all of the beauty genes, so his choice was simple. "From what I understood from Caleb's long and enthusiastic explanation, you've just got to steal a set of documentation papers, fill them out for Andrew then feed them into the computer's database."

I let out a huge huff of air. They are giving me much more credibility then I'm worth. "Piece of cake." It is meant as sarcasm but no one seems to grasp that. We say our goodbyes, I am given a quick overview of my "mission" and I am on my way back to the compound. It is much darker than my liking and I try not to let it get the best of me.

I know that I've missed dinner and I know my father will be working diligently in his office. However what I also know to be true is that my mother will waste no time in hounding me on my whereabouts. I cannot lie and say I was studying at the headquarters which is also a library. "Where were you sweetie?" Before I can even fully step through the door my Mother appears.

"I needed to clear my thoughts, deciding a career is a very intricate process." I close the door and try to bypass her without leading into further conversation. I fail.

"Well," she begins in her particular way. "What is so difficult about it, I thought the plan was to follow in my footsteps and become a librarian?" She is correct, that was my dream. I've always adored books and to serve my faction as a woman who administers the ability to achieve knowledge from a book would be fantastic. Having an endless supply of texts to read, would have been my choice if it were up to me. But it is not, it is now up to Tobias, Andrew and Tris.

I turn around my the heels of my feet and smile sweetly at her. "It was, is—I just want to keep my options open." I think carefully about my next words. "I would also like to get a feel of Dad's career. I always excelled in research during my time in school."

My mother continues to dust off a vase but maintains full eye contact with me. Thankfully we are not Candor, because the look she gives me now seems as if she is peering right down into my core. "But in order to do research you have to _read, _and that's your true calling."

"Mom, I'm not saying that Dad's job is cooler or better than yours. I just want to explore my options." And now we are staring silently at each other.

Finally she sighs. "Well, I suppose it's not up to me. You'd have to ask your Father for permission." She's whispering now. "You know how he is with his job." And then she walks off. Once she's finally out of ear shot I let out a reasonably large huff of air. _Perhaps now would be the best time to talk to him about it._ I head toward his office, the closer I get the more I can hear him quickly whispering to someone on the phone.

"No, no I won't have the research for the new simulation done in time. It is a little more complex than you think it is." A long pause and I am standing outside of his closed door. If my Mother caught me listening in on his phone call, I would never hear the end of it and my chances of infiltrating Jeanine's inner workings. "Oh I'll have it done way before then, but you can't rush this kind of process, not if you want accurate results. Alright, goodbye."

I wait a few more dragged out seconds before tapping on the door. "Dad, may I come in?" I don't think about simply walking in, I wait for a reply.

"Just a minute." He sounds flustered. If I lean against the door I could probably hear him stumbling around, but I decide against it. And then the door opens. "Are you just making it home? You missed dinner, where were you?"

I clear my throat and enter his office, everything seems to be normal. "I was just walking around, clearing my thoughts. Actually there was something I wanted to ask you. I've already sort of discussed it with Mom." He sits back down at his desk and I prop myself up upon the corner as per usual.

"What is it Emily?" _Uh, oh. It's his serious voice. _

"As I previously stated," my voice is cold and calculating, this is the way I must talk to him when he is being serious. "I've already discussed it with Mom, and I am proposing that you allow me to accompany you to work. I believe I would be able to pick my career better if I were able to get a feel of both jobs." I sneak a peek at his expression, for I have been staring blankly ahead of me the entire time. He seems calm and intrigued. "I—I've already seen and helped Mom at work, but I've never been to work with you. I'm not even sure if I fully understand what it is you do exactly."

He cracks his knuckles then looks at me in a way that I've never seen before. I'm afraid that I've set him off. There is a certain edge to the slight smile he is giving me. "I love that you are finding an interest in my career, but right now isn't the best time. I _am—very _swamped at the moment. Although, I'd be happy to sit down with you and fully explain what it is I do._" _

_ I'm losing the battle, Emily think fast! _"However, what better time to show me than now, when it is so demanding? If I am to choose to become a researcher I should know what I'm fully getting myself in to." He makes a few odd noises as he is deliberating things in his mind. No doubt he is comparing the pros and cons to having me shadow him at work.

I twiddle my fingers and try to ignore his weird grunts and moans. He scratches at his belly. "What the heck, if it's against the rules to have you down there we'll just have to find out together. You can come with me this Saturday." He grins and pats me on the thigh. I remove myself from his desk, beaming. Although Saturday is a day after my three day period to gather information, it is definitely a huge step up.

"Thanks Dad, I'm going to go to bed now. I'm pretty tired after all of that walking around I did earlier. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Emily." I leave his office and close the door behind me. I must record everything I hear and see about this new simulation and _Insurgence. _I sprint to my room on the second floor, carefully closing the door behind me. I retrieve my journal from underneath my bed and begin to write down everything.

_#1 Saturday: Infiltrate Jeanine's plan through my father. Look for things dealing with Insurgence and/or a new simulation._

_#2 Acquire an false documentation for Andrew_

_#3 DON'T GET CAUGHT_

I slip my journal back underneath my bed and change into my pajamas. Lying in bed I play with my hair and recap on today's events. The one thing that stands out the most is Andrew's face. I like to think that I'd never forget a face, but my mind draws a complete blank when I think of his. There is no way he was once Erudite, I would certainly remember seeing him. I can feel myself blush. _Don't be a moron, Emily. _I roll my eyes at myself and turn to my side.

"Oh honestly Anna, you can't possibly be this upset that she wants to explore all her options." My eyes grow wide at the sound my Father's voice elevate. _They're arguing over _me_? _

I wait for my Mother's voice. "I'm not Tom, I'm just—I thought she really admired what I do. And will you keep your voice down you'll wake her." I leap out of bed and tip toe over to my door. Estimating the distance between their voices and my room I suspect they are in the kitchen so I crack my door open.

"I just think it's incredibly silly of you to be so jealous." He replies in a hushed tone.

"Jealous?", She practically shouts. "I am _not _jealous. Ugh why are we even discussing this? How was your day." I feel a pang of guilt at the base of my throat, I can count the amount of times I've heard them fight on one hand. And two out of the three times were about who was a better poet. To know that I am the reason for this one is not a good feeling.

I hear movement, someone locks the front door and then I hear footsteps ascend the stairs. "Exhausting, trust me after she sees what it's like on Saturday. There is no way she'll want to make a profession out of it. I swear I've thought about quitting more and more now than I ever have. But I just know too much." The steps are getting closer, I cannot risk standing at the door and longer so I leap into my bed.

Eyes shut I listen to my door creek open. "Look at her, still so adorable." My Mother coos. "And of course you know too much, you're a researcher." Then the door closes shut and their voices are gone. I can't help but think there is a double meaning behind what they've said. Is my father actually working with Jeanine and if he is, does my Mother also know as well?


End file.
